Mildenhall overcame their toughest home test so far to beat Great Britain Under-21s 48-41 and maintain their impressive West Row form on testing track conditions.

The Fen Tigers notched a fifth home win in six weeks after showing character to pull through from the early stages ahead when the soft surface, caused by shale left on the circuit during heavy rain in recent days, caught riders out and saw five falls in the first six races.

While the fourth bend, in particular, proved an early graveyard for Dan Halsey, Liam Carr and Sam Woods, the experience of Jon Armstrong proved crucial.

The veteran avoided the pitfalls and secured 4-2 and 5-1 advantages with Danno Verge in the space of three heats by pressuring Alfie Bowtell into a mistake, and then Verge won a thrilling duel with Kyle Bickley in which they dished out five passes between them.

Joe Jacobs showed little evidence of being three weeks off a bike with three straight wins to help Mildenhall open up a seven-point lead and make a mockery of his discarded position without a team.

Halsey interrupted his glitches with a win and Luke Ruddick bagged the fastest time in heat eight for the second week in a row, but the gap remained the same as races became squared.

Jack Parkinson-Blackburn and Carr, as well as good support from Bowtell, came to the fore for the Young Lions, with Carr pouncing on a mistake by Jacobs to win heat 13 and repeated it in the final race before crashing out with his own error.

“It wasn’t easy but we came through a test”, said Fen Tigers team manager Robert Henry.